The Beatles spent most of February 8th, 1968 in
London's EMI Studio, recording Lennon's Across The Universe. However despite
their efforts, Lennon remained unsatisfied with the results, and the group decided instead
to release Lady Madonna as their next single. Lady Madonna had been
recorded a few days earlier on February 3rd, with final overdubs and mixing taking place
on February 6th.

Well aware that their visit to India to study under
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was imminent, and they weren't due to return until mid-April, they
decided to take the opportunity to pose for some formal group pictures in the EMI
recording studio. These pictures were used as promotional material to accompany the
release of Lady Madonna. One picture in particular being used by Capitol Records
to create a pictures sleeve for Lady Madonna's release in the USA on March 18,
1968.